Great Hall
The Great Hall at Duke West is where all TIPsters come to wait in line three times a day. They wait in this ridiculously long line along with the kids from the Lacrosse, Basketball, Volleyball, Golf, Wrestling, and Baseball camps, along with the Institutes (because these camps never seem to realize that there is a schedule that is supposed to be followed in order to reduce the length of the line). Some conflicts have been formed in this interaction with jock kids, who seem to have no knowledge of Duke TiP.
[edit] Great Hall Hilarity
As all TiPsters are here three times a day, appropriate hilarity ensues. It is not uncommon to be witness to large outbreaks of clapping, especially when a whole table is involved in beginning it. The food is well known to be somewhat inedible, and, in one case at term one 2011, a TIPster found a chunk of plastic in her pancake and an employee was fired due to the mistake. Singing Happy Birthday to a TiPster also brings great rewards, as many will sing along regardless of whether or not they know who it is for. This means that when saying the name there is an exaggerated drop in volume. It is also common to sing Happy Birthday to a TiPster when it is not actually their birthday. At Term 2 2010, RC Nate would initiate the birthday singing through the announcement of the TIPster who's birthday it was's name and age, and therefore everyone would sing along with no awkward dropping volume at the name.
Other fun activities can be done in the hall, such as
- Sticking Napkins on the airvents and watching them fly
- Shanking one another's cups, or poking holes in them with knifes for the uninitiated
- Playing the sandwich game
- Playing the cup game
The Hall is part of the Union at West.
It is also important to note the gravity defying potatoes. When a TiPster gets potatoes in a bowl or plate and flips said bowl or plate upside down, the potatoes will not fall. (Though there is no official record for the amount of time the potatoes have defied gravity, a second-year TiPster timed one attempt during Term II 2009 at 3 minutes. Note: The potatoes had not fallen after 3 minutes. The general consensus was that if potatoes could defy gravity for 3 minutes, they could do so forever, and besides, boredom was setting in.) The pudding defies gravity as well, with the only current surviving record saying that after 7 minutes, the pudding still did not fall.
TiPsters must also be wary of the Jello, for when it has a sort of weird hard film, it is not to be nommed on. Ever. The consequences are too unbearable.
Bad things about the food: The Great Hall has been known to reuse the uneaten food of the previous day. Example: When chicken and peas were served for dinner one night, the following day the white sauce for the pasta had chicken and peas in it. The trays are almost always inconveniently wet as well. ALWAYS.
To be honest the only reliable foods in the Great Hall are the salad bar, the cereal, the PB&J station, and the drinks. All other foods are questionable.
